Chinese word

几乎

Pronunciation

Pinyinjī hū

Meaning

  • adverbalmost

Example

他几乎忘了生日。tā jī hū wàng le shēng rì

He almost forgot his birthday.

Illustration for 几乎 (almost)

More examples

这个计划几乎不可能按时完成。zhè ge jì huà jī hū bù kě néng àn shí wán chéng

This plan is almost impossible to complete on time.

Core concept

A situation reaches the edge of happening or being true, but stops just short.

Common phrases

  • 几乎所有人jī hū suó yǒu rén

    almost everyone

  • 几乎没有jī hū méi yǒu

    almost none

  • 几乎不可能jī hū bù kě néng

    almost impossible

Similar words

差不多chà bu duō: Shows that two things are nearly the same in size, number, value, or other measurable quality.
快要kuài yào: Shows that an event is expected to happen very soon.
差点儿chà diǎnr: Shows that an action nearly happened but was narrowly avoided.

Definition in Chinese

表示某事或某种状态接近发生或达到，但尚未完全实现，通常修饰动词或形容词，用以强调“差一点就……”的情形。biǎo shì mǒu shì huò móu zhǒng zhuàng tài jiē jìn fā shēng huò dá dào dàn shàng wèi wán quán shí xiàn tōng cháng xiū shì dòng cí huò xíng róng cí yòng yǐ qiáng diào chà yì diǎn jiù de qíng xíng

Word origin

几乎 (jīhū, "almost") combines 几 (jī, "nearly") + 乎 (hū, "classical particle") to express a state that comes close to an event or limit without fully reaching it.

Usage tips

  • In conversation, 几乎 (jīhū, "almost") can come before an action or a description, and the following verb or adjective shows what is nearly true.

Opposites

Word lists with this word